Stacker for conically-shaped containers



March 3, 1970 M. WEBER 3,

STACKER FOR CONICALLY-SHAPED CONTAINERS Filed April 30, 1968 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1

lNVENTO/Q MM h eer March 3, 1970 M. WEBER $498,443

S'I'ACKER FOR OONICALILFI-SX-IAPIEZD CONTAINERS Filed April 30, 1968 B'Sheets-Sheet 2 //V VE V TOQ Mar h/eh'r 3 mm was March 3,1970 M. WEBER 3,498,443

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' STACKER FOR CONICALLY-SHAPED CONTAINERS Filed April 30, 1968- 8 Sheets-Sheet 4.

' INVENTOR M hder March 3,1970 M. WEBER 3,498,443

STACKER FOR CONIOALLY-SHAPED CONTAINERS v F1195. April 30, 1968 8 ShBtS-ShGSt 5 F s g 9 ggy! March 3, 1970 M. WEBER v STAGKER FOR CONICALLY-SHAPED CONTAINERS Filed April 30, 1968 s Shegts-Sheet e 1N VENToR March 3, 1970 M. WEBER STACKER FOR CONICALLY-SHAPED CONTAINERS 8 Sheets-Sheet '7 Filed April 30, 1968 March 3, 1970 M. WEBER 3,498,443 5 STAGKER FOR CONICALLY-SHAPED CONTAINERS Filed April 30. 1968 8 Sheets-Sheet a Fig-.12 48 IIWENTUR Mex Weber B fiflmamm MW United States Patent US. Cl. 198-33 17 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Stacker advances the containers by means of two successive pairs of belts, with means for successively adjusting the position of the containers so that when one container is braked the next container is telescoped into it.

Background of the invention The invention relates to a stacker for telescoping together conically-shaped containers to produce a stack.

In one stacker of the prior art the container slide down a chute into a vertical box, in which one container telescopes into the other. In an arrangement of this sort it is difiicult to interrupt the stacking at a desired moment. If a misaligned container falls into the box it becomes so badly wedged that much time is wasted before the stacker is again ready to operate. Finally, since the interior of the box is difficult of access, it is inconvenient to remove the completed stack.

Summary of the invention The stacker of the invention avoids these defects of the prior art, as will be apparent from the ensuing detailed description.

Brief description of the drawings The invention will be described in detail, with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows at a, b, and c various positions taken by the containers;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the stacker of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the stacker shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view, on expanded scale, taken along line IVIV of FIG. 3; I

FIG. 5 is a view, on expanded scale, taken along line VV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a detail view of a part of the stacker;

FIG. 7 is a top view of the part shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a detail view of another part of the stacker;

FIG. 9 is a front view of the part shown in FIG. 8, taken in the direction of the arrow IX of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a detail view of still another part of the stacker;

FIG. 11 is a view taken along line XIXI of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a detail view of yet another part of the stacker; and

FIG. 13 is a top view of the part shown in FIG. 12.

Description of the preferred embodiment With reference to the figures of the drawings, the machine of the invention stacks truncated-cone-shaped containers 1, as shown schematically in FIG. la. The containers are made of a synthetic plastic, and their side walls near the bottoms 2 incorproate an internal shoulder 3 which prevents the containers from wedging together when one container is moved into another to produce the telescoped stack. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the stacker has a frame 4 provided at one end with a 3,498,443 Patented Mar. 3, 1970 receiving means 5 for the containers, which may be advanced on a conveyor or in a guide channel from the container-manufacturing machine, for example. The containers are advanced through the stacker and brought to a table 6 located at the other end of the stacker. The receiving means 5, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, comprises a chute 7 having two sheet-metal-plate walls 7' and 7" that are slanted towards one another and meet to form a common edge 8. The input end of these walls make a funnel tube 9 which receives the containers falling in the direction of the arrow 10. Two baflle plates 13, pivotally hung from respective J-shaped members 12 of a mount 11 positioned above the chute 7, tip the containers onto their sides as they slide down the chute. An end wall 14 and a laterally projecting guide plate 15 cooperate to ensure that each container leaves the chute laterally in the direction of the arrow 16 and falls, right side up, to assume approximately the correct position 1 as shown in top view in FIG. 7, between two endless cone belts 17, where it is held.

The cone belts 17 run over two belt pulleys 19 mounted on a shaft 18 and two belt pulleys 21 mounted on a shaft 20. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the shaft 20 rotates in bearings 22 located in the upper end of a post 23. The frame 4, which is composed principally of plates and hollow sections 24, mounts a series of flexible vanes 26 by means of lugs 25, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. As the containers move by, the vanes slide over the upper part of their outer wall surfaces, adjusting the positions of the containers, so that the latter, which upon falling between the belts 17 have generally only the approximately correct position, are oriented in the correct position 1 Guides 27, rigid with the frame, ensure that the respective upper strands of the belts 17 are correctly spaced apart along their entire lengths for the size of the containers.

An air blower 28 is provided for those containers that do not take the correct position 1 shown in FIG. 4. The blower includes an electromagnetic valve 29 which controls a compressed-air line 30 and is automatically opened when the stacker is started up. A regulating cock 32 is incorporated between the valve 29 and an outlet nozzle 31, from which a narrow, well-defined blast of air 33 passes through an opening 34 in the guide 27. The air blast 33 does not strike those containers that are correctly positioned, but only those that have failed to fall between the belts 1 7. These latter containers are blown by the air blast in the direction of the arrow 35 into a collecting receptacle 36.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the shaft 20, which is taper bore mounted on the frame 4, mounts a guide pulley 37 incorporating two grooves 38 for corresponding endless round belts 39, which run over a guide pulley 40 at their other ends, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 12. The belts 39 support the containers in the position 1 illustrated schematically in FIG. 1b. To bring the containers into this position, a tipping plate 41 is positioned above the belts 17 at the end thereof adjacent the belts 39, as best shown in FIG. 8. The plate slants downwardly and is mounted on a mount 44, rigid with the frame, by means of a hinge 42 and a flexible strap 43. The lower edge 45 of the plate holds back the container edge, so that the container tips leftwards (as seen in FIG. 8) and assumes the position 1 shows in FIG. 1b.

In order that a container can be telescoped into the previous container, the container must be brought to the position 1 of FIG. 10. To this end, an orientor 46, illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11, is provided, incorporating a tunnel-like guide 47 and two press rollers 48. The guide 47 is mounted by screws 49, positionally adjustable in the direction of container movement, on a support 50, which can be positionally adjusted along the length of, and fixed to, an upright rod 51, rigid with the frame.

3 The axle 52 of a guide roller 53 for the belts 39 is mounted, adjustable in height, on the support 50. The guide 47 and the roller 53 are so adjusted in position that the guide 47 bears on the upper part of the container rim, whereby the bottom of the container in the position 1 is tipped up so that the container assumes the position 1 the upper silhouette line of the container then being horizontal. A support comprising a sliding block 61, a cross arm 60, and an arm 59, illustrated in FIG. 13, permits adjusting the height of the press rollers 48 independently of the guide 47. The height of these rollers is adjusted with respect to the size and shape of the containers so as to cause the bottom of a container, as it passes underneath the rollers 48, to assume that position which permits it to enter the previous container in the position 1 and located in a flat guide channel 63.

A brake 54, illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13, is arranged immediately behind the press rollers 48, and consists of a rocker arm 57 pivotally mounted on the axle 56 of the rollers 48. A regulating screw 58, which rests with its end on the arm 59, so limits the downward movement of the rocker arm 57 that the latter is slightly raised by the uppermost part of the rim of the container in the channel 63. The weight of the rocker arm acts to brake the movement of the container as it moves in the channel 63, and the bottom of the following container, which latter is not yet braked, enters the mouth of the braked container. In this way one container after the other forms a horizontal stack 62 of telescoped containers. The containers are stacked in the guide channel 63, incorporated along the upper edge of the slightly tipped table 6, as shown in FIG. 5. To limit the numbers of containers forming a single stack 62, there is provided a slider 64 having a stop 65 (see also FIG. 2) that projects rearwardly and downwards into the path of the stack 62. The stop can be moved along, and fixed to, a horizontal bar 66. The stop can be moved along to, a horizontal bar 66. The stop operates an end switch 67, which is closed when the first container of the stack 62 contacts the stop 65. The end switch 67 controls via wiring (not shown) a motor 68 mounted rigidly on the frame and the shaft 69 of which is displaced upwards along its axis in the direction of the arrow 70.

An arm 72 is pivotally mounted on a shaft 71 positioned beneath and extending parallel to the channel 63. The free end of the arm 72 mounts a roller 73 that rests on the head 74 of the motor shaft 69. The arm 72 carries a channel member 75 extending parallel to the stack and acting as an ejector. When the motor shaft 69 moves upwards, the ejector is moved circularly in the direction of the arrow 76 until it pushes a stack of containers out of the channel 63 and onto the table 6, down which the stack is free to roll to a catch rail 77 mounted along the lower edge of the table. As the stack rolls down the middle of it is caught and temporarily slowed down by a flexible vane 78 connected to an arm 79 adjustably mounted on the bar 66. The vane acts to bend the stack temporarily into the shape 80, shown in dot-dash line in FIG. 3. This prevents the stack from rolling ever more obliquely down the table, because of the conical shape of the containers. In addition, two obliquely extending guide rails 81 are provided on the table surface.

As shown in FIG. 2, the stacker has a motor 82 that drives, via a transmission covered by a housing 83 (see FIG. 3), a shaft 85 turning a bearing 84., illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13. Rigidly mounted on the shaft 85 is the guide pulley 40, which drives the guide pulley 37 via the belts 39, and thus also the shaft 20 and the pulleys 21.

The spacing between the pulleys 19 and between the pulleys 21 can be varied somewhat, in order to permit the spacing between the belts 17 to be changed to suit the shape of the container. In accordance with the invention, the spacing between the round belts 39 can also be changed in any suitable and known manner.

I claim:

1. Stacker for telescoping together comically-shaped containers having mouths larger than their bottoms to produce a stack, including a first pair of parallel, spaced endless belts for receiving and supporting between them the individual containers in spaced alignment and in an at least approximately upright position, with bottoms lowermost, means for moving said first pair of belts whereby the containers are advanced to one end thereof from which they fall, tipping means for tipping each advancing container so that the bottoms thereof are foremost in the direction of advance and so that the containers fall from the said one end of said first pair of belts in an inclined position, a second pair of parallel, spaced endless belts located to catch and support therebetween the falling containers in an inclined position, means for moving said second pair of belts whereby the containers are advanced towards one end thereof, brake means for slowing down the advance of each container, and an orientor for so adjusting the position of each container before it is braked that the bottom of the oriented container enters the mouth of the braked container so that one container is telescoped into the other.

2. The stacker as defined in claim 1, wherein said first pair of belts has two like, spaced, parallel strands that together define a horizontal plane and between which strands the containers are held.

3. The stacker as defined in claim 1, wherein said second pair of belts has two like, spaced, parallel strands that together define a horizontal plane and between which strands the containers are supported.

4. The stacker as defined in claim 1, wherein the containers are advanced in the same direction by said first and second pairs of belts.

5. The stacker as defined in claim 1, wherein each orientor includes a tunnel-like guide means through which each container passes to effect a first orientation thereof, and means for bearing upon each container to effect a second orientation thereof, the first and second orientations together permitting the bottom of a container to enter the mouth of the preceding container, and means for enabling adjustment of said guide means and means for bearing upon a container for containers of different sizes and conical shapes.

6. The stacker as defined in claim 5, wherein said means for bearing upon a container comprises two spaced rollers, located above said second pair of belts and free to rotate about an axis crosswise to the direction of container movement, for pressing upon the upper surfaces of the containers and pivoting the latter about an axis crosswise to the direction of container movement.

7. The stacker as defined in claim 5, wherein said orientor includes a guide roller (53) over which said second pair of belts passes, and means for adjusting the position of said guide roller with respect to said guide means.

8. The stacker as defined in claim 1, including a guide channel located to receive containers from the said end of said second pair of belts, and wherein said brake means comprises a rocker arm pivotal about an axis crosswise to the direction of container movement and located above said guide channel for successively pressing each container against said guide channel to slow the former down.

9. The stacker as defined in claim 1, including a continuously operated air blower, located along the path of said first pair of belts and before said tipping means, for providing a defined blast of air that removes all containers that are not in the correct, upright position.

10. The stacker as defined in claim 1, including a table (6), a flat guide channel along one edge of said table and located to receive from said second pair of belts the containers that are being telescoped, and an ejector for moving a plurality of telescoped containers from said guide channel and onto said table, said table sloping whereby the ejected containers roll down the surface thereof, and means located at the lower end of the table to stop the rolling, telescoped containers.

11. The stacker as defined in claim 10, including a stop located in the path of the telescoped containers in said guide channel, a switch operated by said stop when the latter is contacted by a container, and electrical means controlled by said switch for operating said ejector.

12. The stacker as defined in claim 11, wherein said electrical means is a motor the shaft of which is'displaced in the direction of its length, a pivotally mounted arm moved by the displacement of the motor shaft, and said ejector is mounted on said arm and alongside said guide channel and moved against the telescoped containers when said arm is moved.

13. The stacker as defined in claim 1, including means for temporarily slowing down the middle of the series of ejected telescoped containers.

14. The stacker as defined in claim 1, wherein the belts of said first and second pair of belts are respectively conical and round.

15. The stacker as defined in claim 1, including means (5, 13) for delivering the containers to said first pair of belts in upright, bottoms down, position.

16. The stacker as defined in claim 1, including an at least approximately horizontal surface located to receive the containers from said second pair of belts and on which the containers are telescoped together.

17., The stacker as defined in claim 1, including means (26) for orienting the containers advanced by said first pair of belts.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD E. AEGERTER, Primary Examiner 

